Varina Davis

Varina Davis (7 May 1826-16 October 1906) was First Lady of the Confederacy from 18 February 1861 to 10 May 1865 as the wife of President Jefferson Davis.

Biography
Varina Anne Banks Howell was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1826, the granddaughter of New Jersey governor Richard Howell. She was educated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and she called herself a "half-breed" due to her association with both the North and the American South. In 1843, the 17-year-old Varina Howell was invited to the plantation of family friend Joseph Davis, where she met her host's much younger, 35-year-old brother Jefferson Davis. The two fell in love, and, while Howell's parents initially disapproved of the relationship due to their differing political views (the Howells were Whigs, while Davis was a Democrat) and the differences in background and age, the Howells ultimately consented to the courtship and they married on 26 February 1845. Her husband left her in the care of his older brother as he fought in the Mexican-American War, and she accompanied him to Washington DC when he was elected to the US House of Representatives, coming to love the city. She was given a broader outlook on life, coming to believe that slaves were just humans with frailties. Starting in 1852, the couple had a total of 6 children, and Davis was a doting father; five of their children unfortunately died under the age of 21. During the American Civil War, Varina became the First Lady of the Confederacy after her husband became its President, and she was torn between her support for the Union and her support for slavery. Some racist people remarked that she looked like a mulatto or a Native American, openly criticizing her. After the war, she became a writer, completing her husband's memoir in 1881. She later became a regular columnist for the New York World, and, after her husband died in 1889, she moved to New York City, where she enjoyed urban life and attempted to reconcile prominent figures of the North and South. She died in New York in 1906 at the age of 80.